Polenta - I can't live without it!!

Well, as I am intolerant of gluten, and so therefore wheat, and can only eat bread if I don't mind severe belly ache and farting afterwards, I'm always on the lookout for good alternatives. Polenta seems to be my saviour these days! I'm using it for all sorts of things. It makes fabulous cakes, with ground almonds, and my polenta and almond Victoria sponge is almost indistinguishable from the 'real' thing, especially with whipped cream and fresh raspberries in it!!
I've just discovered polenta crackers, which are pretty easy to make. The recipe is from 28 Cooks (as is the lovely picture!!), which is a blogspot blog, so is at www.28cooks.blogspot.com, but as usual I've altered it a little. I've got white polenta at the moment, simply because that's what Tesco had in, and I don't know if it absorbs more water than yellow. I do think perhaps that these crackers would look nicer made from yellow polenta though.
3 and 1/2 cups of water
1 and 1/2 cups of polenta (I don't know what weight this is, I couldn't be bothered to weigh it as I've got some cup measures!)
1 tsp veg stock powder
Plenty of finely grated Parmesan (I used the Veggie Parmesan style one, cos as you all know, real Parmesan and the like are made with animal rennet!).
1 Bring the water to the boil, add the stock powder.
2 Chuck the polenta in and mash it around well with a wooden spoon or even a big whisk to get any lumps put.
3 Cook it for a couple of minutes till it's lifting from the sides of the pan.
4 Add the Parmesan stuff and stir well in.
5 Grease a couple of flat baking sheets well with butter or marg or oil.
6 Turn the polenta out onto the trays and, with wet hands cos it's hot and sticky, squidge it all over the trays to make a thin, even layer, tidying the edges up as best you can. Score it into whatever size slices you want.
7 Put it in a medium hot oven (I do about 220) and bake it for about 25 minutes.
8 Take it out, cut it into its slices and put it on a rack to cool.

You could use mixed herbs instead of the cheese if you liked, or marmite in the water, or tomato puree or whatever flavouring takes your fancy! It's scrummy!




Tortilla Soup

I made this today, and it was so popular it immediately became a family favourite! I got the recipe from a book called Soup Kitchen, can't remember who it's by, but again, I've twiddled it a bit.

1 litre veg stock (I made mine up from boiling water and 5 tsp of stock powder cos I am far too busy to be making proper stock!)
1 onion
3 cloves of garlic
1 400g tin of tomatoes
6 corn tortillas (you can buy gluten free ones but I didn't cos I was in Summerfield and Summerfield is rubbish! But there's not sooo much wheat in them that they've made me fart!).
Oil (olive or otherwise)
Block of feta cheese
1 large ripe avocado
1 lime
Some olives
Half a packet of quorn chicken style pieces (you could even use 'real' chicken bits if you must!)
tblsp of polenta
smoked paprika
some sort of chili element
salt and pepper

1 Cut the onion into 6 wedges, and peel the garlic. Cook them dry in a large heavy frying pan (I used a non stick cos I have trouble with sticky things!) over a medium high heat for about 5 minutes till they go a bit brown.
2 Put them in a blender with the tinned toms and whizz it all up.
3 Put this in a big saucepan (deep is best, it spits like buggery!) and put it on a medium high heat and cook it till it's reduced to a thickish puree.
4 Add the stock and simmer for about 25 minutes. Then season.
5 You need to add your chili element at some point. I've got a dried chili grinder so I added it when I put the stock in. If you're using fresh you can do the chili with the onion and garlic, same way. Whatever.
6 While the soup is cooking, cut the tortillas into little strips about 2 inches or less long.
7. Cut the avo into chunks and put them in a bowl. Cut the feta into chunks (the recipe also says you could use mozzarella instead, so do, if you like) and put them in a bowl. Cut the lime into wedges and put those in a bowl. Put these bowls on the table.
8 Mix the polenta and a tsp of smoked paprika (or some other flavouring if you like) and shake the quorn pieces in it.
9 In 2 large frying pans heat some oil, and in one fry the quorn till it's crispy, and in the other fry the strips of tortilla likewise (half at a time is best as there are lots).
10 Drain the tortilla strips on kitchen roll.
11 Then, in 4 shallow bowls, share out the tortilla strips and the quorn pieces and ladle the tomato broth over the top.
12 People can add the other stuff as they see fit, at the table, the feta, avo and olives, and the lime juice can be squeezed on top (I think it's really the finishing touch!).

It was bloody delicious!